If you aren't out there, you'll never see anything - a brief story of optimism and perseverance.

Well, that is something I have been telling myself for quite a while, especially when my alarm goes off at 3 am to get somewhere for sunrise or an eagerly anticipated 'event'.

This morning started with great hope for something I have not been able to photograph myself before: a misty morning at Corfe Castle. I had looked at the forecast on a number of weather apps late yesterday and all the signs were good for a misty morning over in Dorset. I wasn't anticipating a sunny start, but I was pretty sure that there would be mist around the base of Corfe Castle, with the Castle itself would be standing proud over an ethereal scene.......Oh how wrong I was!!

Leaving home at 3.30am, the drive over to Dorset gave me hope that the conditions would be pretty good and as I climbed up the hill to the popular viewing point, I was still anticipating that the pretty heavy fog would lift, leaving mist to weave it's magic.

I captured a couple of images within a few minutes: The castle showing itself briefly, before disappearing in fog......Not to be seen again at all for well over an hour!! I couldn't quite believe that the fog would be so dense late in June, but it certainly was. By 7 am and 2 hours after arriving, it was obvious that the fog wouldn't lift for a good while and certainly there wouldn't be any form of cloud inversion once it had lifted.....so it was time to drive home.

In a way, I was disappointed, but I always find myself being pretty sanguine at times like this. If I hadn't gone out, I would have been wondering what I had missed for a start. I also love the thrill of the chase: sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. If it was guaranteed that the conditions would be perfect every time I stepped out of the house, then it would almost certainly be boringly

predictable. Although I wasn't so lucky this morning, there will be another time when I am blown away by an amazing spectacle of mist, along with a rising sun casting long shadows through the castle ruins. At that point any previous feelings of disappointment will have vanished.

The briefest of moments and a fleeting glimpse of Corfe Castle

Cobwebs in the gorse and the fog slowly lifting

I'm always glad I made the effort, whatever the outcome and no two moments are ever the same....the only guarantee is that if I hadn't gone, I would have missed todays unique start.

There's always a next time!!